River Run ATV Park video,s

[mudbug3]

Oh yeah , that big mud hole the trucks use as a " crazy 8 " track , was the biggest and absolute worse mud hole I,d ever drove my Max IV into . I really wish that boncrshr could have gotten a video of me "STRUGGLING " to get my Max IV out . You would have to see how hard this was to believe it ! Just as soon as I had driven my Max IV five feet into this BIG MUD HOLE , I knew I,d made a BIG mistake ! I tried rocking my Max IV side to side by hanging off my roll bar , but this only worked for a few feet . I tried to unweight my Max IV by standing on the front edge of it and this worked , but hardy moved my Max at all . This was some SOFT and DEEP mud ! The only thing left that I could do now , was to get out of my amphib , and push against it , hoping that the lightened tub weight would give my Max IV the help it needed . Just as soon as I stepped out of my Max in my hip waders , I was chest deep in thick mud with only about 5-6 inches of water on top of it . I PUSHED as hard as I could and leaned over and worked the throttle at the same time . Boncrshr yelled out for me to back up and let them winch me out , but by now I was committed to make it out all by myself , and not let this mud prevail . As I saw my amphib slowly move forward , this gave me the hope that I could make it to the other side . When I was half way across , I could see a log directly in front of me , half submerged in the water . I knew I could not drive over it .The only thing I could do now , was try to push my Max towards the far end of the log , because I knew that I could not drive over one this muddy and slippery . When I had pushed my Max IV as far as I could away from the log ,,I waded chest deep in the mud to the other side of my Max . Now I pushed as hard as I could , while working the throttle at the same time , to change direction . When I had made sufficent progress , I then waded to the other side of my Max , and pushed and worked the throttle at the same time as before . This time I could feel my tires trying to gain traction as I stood on the submerged log . I was now pushing as hard as I could with my left foot , and using my tub and roll bar for leverage . I was hoping some how , some way , my Gator tires could make it over this log and into the deeper water . By now I was just about EXHAUSTED from straining to get my Max out . When my Max had made it past this log ,,things got easier , because the water was now deeper . As I watched my Max IV slowly gain momentum , I hung onto the side of the tub and let the 25 hp Kolier drag me along . This only lasted a few minutes and then it was back to pushing and straining ! The only difference now ,,I was within five feet of driving out . Just as soon as my front Gators grabbed traction , I pulled myself into the drivers seat and drove out ! This was the absolute hardest thing I,ve ever tried to do , with my Max IV . Just as soon as I had driven out , I yelled out to the ATV rider with the 8 inch lift and tall mud tires to try it , but he said " no way " . This was five feet of pudding mud that I,d made it through . The big monster tire trucks had made this mud hole almost impossible to make it across !


This is where a low PSI amphib , with "tracks" ( HOOT ) would excell !

[mightymaxIV]

That little MaxII of Noel's was quite impressive in the mud!

[mudbug3]

mightymaxIV ,

" That little MaxII of Noel's was quite impressive in the mud! "

Yes , it was , considering it only had 23 inch rawhides . Its the low PSI that makes a big difference . His tires propel him through the mud much easier , because his tires are not fighting against the tub weight . When you have a heavy tub weight your tires tend to loose traction a lot faster , and this causes you to high center much easier . Boncrshr,s light weight Hustler did even better in that same mud hole with its 25 inch Vampire tires , compared to my Max IV , with six Gators all facing forward . The ground clearance of my Max IV gives me a slight advantage over boncrshr,s Hustler , in deep rutted trails , but , in most of the long mud holes at River run , we were equal . Some times boncrshr even had a slight advantage , just like Noel did in the above video , because of their lower PSI .

One thing to consider though , is both the rawhide III,s and the Vampire tires swim , but the Gator tires don,t . Both Noel and boncrshr had the advantage in the watery mud , but boncrshr and I had the advantage in the pudding mud .

[mudbug3]

CLICK ON 480P IN THE LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER FOR BEST VEWING.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaoFD5vKjmg

[mudbug3]

CLICK ON 480P IN THE LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER FOR BEST VEWING.


YouTube - Hustler 6x6 ( 1 )



This is a video of boncrshr driving his Hustler 950 through a swampy section at River Run atv park that had a trail split off on both ends.

[George]

Those Hustlers are pretty cool.

[mightymaxIV]

Very cool video mudbug! where are the MaxIV videos? That looked like an excellent AATV proving gound. Next time why don't you try to get a couple of the high lifted quads to try and follow you through!

[rdr]

Oh yeah , that big mud hole the trucks use as a " crazy 8 " track , was the biggest and absolute worse mud hole I,d ever drove my Max IV into . I really wish that boncrshr could have gotten a video of me "STRUGGLING " to get my Max IV out . You would have to see how hard this was to believe it ! Just as soon as I had driven my Max IV five feet into this BIG MUD HOLE , I knew I,d made a BIG mistake ! I tried rocking my Max IV side to side by hanging off my roll bar , but this only worked for a few feet . I tried to unweight my Max IV by standing on the front edge of it and this worked , but hardy moved my Max at all . This was some SOFT and DEEP mud ! The only thing left that I could do now , was to get out of my amphib , and push against it , hoping that the lightened tub weight would give my Max IV the help it needed . Just as soon as I stepped out of my Max in my hip waders , I was chest deep in thick mud with only about 8-10- inches of water on top of it . I PUSHED as hard as I could and leaned over and worked the throttle at the same time . Boncrshr yelled out for me to back up and let them winch me out , but by now I was committed to make it out all by myself , and not let this mud prevail . As I saw my amphib slowly move forward , this gave me the hope that I could make it to the other side . When I was half way across , I could see a log directly in front of me , half submerged in the water . I knew I could not drive over it .The only thing I could do now , was try to push my Max towards the far end of the log , because I knew that I could not drive over one this muddy and slippery . When I had pushed my Max IV as far as I could away from the log ,,I waded chest deep in the mud to the other side of my Max . Now I pushed as hard as I could , while working the throttle at the same time , to change direction . When I had made sufficent progress , I then waded to the other side of my Max , and pushed and worked the throttle at the same time as before . This time I could feel my tires trying to gain traction as I stood on the submerged log . I was now pushing as hard as I could with my left foot , and using my tub and roll bar for leverage . I was hoping some how , some way , my Gator tires could make it over this log and into the deeper water . By now I was just about EXHAUSTED from straining to get my Max out . When my Max had made it past this log ,,things got easier , because the water was now deeper . As I watched my Max IV slowly gain momentum , I hung onto the side of the tub and let the 25 hp Kolier drag me along . This only lasted a few minutes and then it was back to pushing and straining ! The only difference now ,,I was within five feet of driving out . Just as soon as my front Gators grabbed traction , I pulled myself into the drivers seat and drove out ! This was the absolute hardest thing I,ve ever tried to do , with my Max IV . Just as soon as I had driven out , I yelled out to the ATV rider with the 8 inch lift and tall mud tires to try it , but he said " no way " . This was five feet of pudding mud that I,d made it through . The big monster tire trucks had made this mud hole almost impossible to make it across !


This is where a low PSI amphib , with "tracks" ( HOOT ) would excell !

you max with tracks will leave that hoot .

[mudbug3]

Those Hustlers are pretty cool.

George ,

You got that right ! Boncrshr and I were at a section of River Run park that had a BAD mud hole called " suicide hole " . This mud hole was filled with " pudding mud " . This is the kind of mud thats EXTREMELY hard to drive through , because it has very little water on top of the mud . Just as soon as you drive in you high center , and then your tires struggle to find traction while pushing the weight of the tub and driver foward. I was totally unaware of this when I drove my Max IV down a hill about 40 degrees and straight into the large mud hole . Just as soon as my Max IV had all six wheels in the muddy water , I knew I was in for a struggle ! I then started rocking my Max IV side to side , and this got me about 2 feet from where I first entered in . I then tried hanging off the right side and then the left side of my Max IV , with a zip tie holding my throttle partially open . This got me almost half way across . By this time I had a crowd of about fifteen 4-wheelers watching me struggle trying to make it to the other side . When I had reached the point that I could no longer make any forward momentum , I knew then it was time to abandon ship , and start pushing my Max IV for all I was worth . When I had "almost" made it to the other side by pushing the Max IV hard as I could ,while keeping the throttle on with a zip tie , an atv rider watching me yelled out " you need me to help " ? I said sure ,I,m not proud , " come on down " ! I hung off one side of the Max IV and the atv rider helping me hung off the other side . We then got ourselves synchronized in our rocking from side to side . This got me almost to the point of driving out , but an arm size tree limb near the waters edge prevented me . At this point I got out of the Max IV and removed what was preventing me from driving out . By now I had an even larger crowd of atv riders who were gathered around this mud hole watching me . Some of them had video camera,s shooting the action . At this point another atv rider asked me if I had any thing that he could pull me out with , when he saw I was not using my winch . It was not working that day so I had to resort to a long rope . The rider of this BIG tire 4-wheeler managed to pull me about a foot out of the water while I worked the throttle of my Max . This was right before the rope snaped , that had been tied to the front of my roll bar.


After boncrshr and I had answered many curious questions about our amphibs and what they could do , boncrshr decides to drive his Hustler back the way I,d first come across , and up the same steep hill that I came down . I thought to myself , if he can do this I,ll be VERY impressed . This particular mud pit is shaped like a large bowl ,and boncrshr takes a line that is different from the one I drove up , but the drive down is almost as steep . Every one that is gathered around this mud pit watches as Boncrshr drives his Hustler half way across , while sitting down and rocking side to side with no problem. When boncrshr got to the place where I,d first drove in , I was VERY SURE he would,nt make it any further . All of the mud before he made his steep climb out , had been churned up really good when I,d first entered the mud pit . At this point Boncrshr starts rocking his Hustler side to side , while sitting down working the throttle , and then drives up the steep embankment I,d first drove down . VERY IMPRESSIVE ! This mud hole was so bad that none of the atv riders that were watching us , would even attempt to cross .


The light psi of Boncrshr,s Hustler 950 , combined with the exellent traction and self cleaning ability of the 13.5 inch vampire tires on it , put my Max IV to shame that day . His Hustler has less ground clearance and he has a Honda 20 hp vs my 25 hp Kolier .

[boncrshr]

Mudbug is just being nice....he made it all the way to the end of that mud pit.

Here are my two videos of the day. In the second video near the end is the really bad mud pit that Mudbug is talking about.